 clickable | | The Sacrament of the Present Moment In letters written in 1740, Jean-Pierre de Caussade (ordained member of the Society of Jesus) wrote about the sacrament of the present moment. We are invited to choose to live each day as a sacrament (as a gift), enabling us to see, to hear, to taste, and to touch grace—the goodness of God's presence in our world. We need to bring this sacrament back and allow it to be front and center in our lives. I'm pretty sure that St. Francis would agree. Franciscan spirituality is an incarnational earthy spirituality. Put simply: God is close, never far away. —from the book This Is the Life: Mindfulness, Finding Grace, and the Power of the Present Moment by Terry Hershey |  MorningOffering.com | †Saint Quote
"Just as in one man there is one soul and one body, yet many members; even so the Catholic Church is one body, having many members. The soul that quickens this body is the Holy Spirit; and therefore in the Creed after confessing our belief in the Holy Spirit, we are bid to believe in the Holy Catholic Church."
— St. Thomas Aquinas † MEDITATION OF THE DAY
"There are two loves, the love of God and the love of the world. If the love of the world takes possession of you, there is no way for the love of God to enter into you. Let the love of the world take the second place, and let the love of God dwell in you. Let the better love take over."
— St. Augustine, p. 34
AN EXCERPT FROM
Augustine Day by Day † VERSE OF THE DAY
"For I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute. You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives."
Luke 21:15-19 |  click to read more | | ST. HELEN St. Helen, also known as St. Helena (d. 327 A.D.), was a woman of humble means from Asia Minor. She married the future Roman Emperor Constantius Chlorus, and their son Constantine was born c. 272. Constantius divorced Helen in c. 293 to marry Emperor Maximian's daughter for the sake of political gain. When her son Constantine became the Roman Emperor, St. Helen was given the imperial title "Augusta" and was treated like royalty. After Constantine legalized Christianity across the Roman Empire, St. Helen, a Christian convert, went to the Holy Land in search of the actual cross on which Christ was crucified, despite being in her 80s. She questioned local Christians and Jews and learned that the cross was buried under the Temple of Venus. Helen had the temple demolished and excavated. There she discovered the Holy Sepulcher, three crosses, the board with Pilate's inscription, and the nails which pierced Jesus' Sacred Body. In order to determine which cross was the Lord's, the Bishop of Jerusalem touched them to a corpse, causing the man to come back to life. A second miraculous healing of a sick woman confirmed the discovery of the True Cross. Christians flocked to Jerusalem to venerate the Holy Cross. St. Helen then visited all the holy places of Jesus' life and built many churches over their locations, including Bethlehem, the Mount of Olives, and the Garden of Gethsemane. St. Helen is the patron of divorced people, empresses, difficult marriages, converts, and archeologists. Her feast day is August 18th. | Reading 1 EZ 28:1-10 The word of the LORD came to me: Son of man,
say to the prince of Tyre:
Thus says the Lord GOD:
Because you are haughty of heart,
you say, "A god am I!
I occupy a godly throne
in the heart of the sea!"—
And yet you are a man, and not a god,
however you may think yourself like a god.
Oh yes, you are wiser than Daniel,
there is no secret that is beyond you.
By your wisdom and your intelligence
you have made riches for yourself;
You have put gold and silver
into your treasuries.
By your great wisdom applied to your trading
you have heaped up your riches;
your heart has grown haughty from your riches–
therefore thus says the Lord GOD:
Because you have thought yourself
to have the mind of a god,
Therefore I will bring against you
foreigners, the most barbarous of nations.
They shall draw their swords
against your beauteous wisdom,
they shall run them through your splendid apparel.
They shall thrust you down to the pit, there to die
a bloodied corpse, in the heart of the sea.
Will you then say, "I am a god!"
when you face your murderers?
No, you are man, not a god,
handed over to those who will slay you.
You shall die the death of the uncircumcised
at the hands of foreigners,
for I have spoken, says the Lord GOD. Responsorial Psalm DEUTERONOMY 32:26-27AB, 27CD-28, 30, 35CD-36AB R. (39c) It is I who deal death and give life.
"I would have said, 'I will make an end of them
and blot out their name from men's memories,'
Had I not feared the insolence of their enemies,
feared that these foes would mistakenly boast."
R. It is I who deal death and give life.
"'Our own hand won the victory;
the LORD had nothing to do with it.'"
For they are a people devoid of reason,
having no understanding.
R. It is I who deal death and give life.
"How could one man rout a thousand,
or two men put ten thousand to flight,
Unless it was because their Rock sold them
and the LORD delivered them up?"
R. It is I who deal death and give life.
Close at hand is the day of their disaster,
and their doom is rushing upon them!
Surely, the LORD shall do justice for his people;
on his servants he shall have pity.
R. It is I who deal death and give life. Alleluia 2 COR 8:9 R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Jesus Christ became poor although he was rich
So that by his poverty you might become rich.
R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel MT 19:23-30 Jesus said to his disciples:
"Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich
to enter the Kingdom of heaven.
Again I say to you,
it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle
than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God."
When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said,
"Who then can be saved?"
Jesus looked at them and said,
"For men this is impossible,
but for God all things are possible."
Then Peter said to him in reply,
"We have given up everything and followed you.
What will there be for us?"
Jesus said to them, "Amen, I say to you
that you who have followed me, in the new age,
when the Son of Man is seated on his throne of glory,
will yourselves sit on twelve thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters
or father or mother or children or lands
for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more,
and will inherit eternal life.
But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first."
| Daily Meditation: Ezekiel 28:1-10 Because you are haughty of heart, you say, "A god am I!" (Ezekiel 28:2) Located on an island off the Phoenician coast, the city of Tyre depended on trade for its very existence. But instead of dealing fairly with its neighbors, it took advantage of them. Tyre's greed even led it to plunder Israel (Joel 4:5-6). It was this arrogant attitude that led Ezekiel to prophesy against the nation. Because of their wealth and accomplishments, the people of Tyre had become blinded to their need for God. Before we condemn Tyre ourselves, we should admit how easy it is for all of us to fall into a similar trap. For example, maybe we believe that somehow we deserve the gifts and blessings we have because we worked hard for them and fail to see that they come from the Lord. Or we might start to look down on some of the people around us because they haven't achieved as much as we have. We may even start taking advantage of such people the way Tyre treated its neighbors. In all of these ways—and there are many others—we can detect the classic sin of pride. Thankfully, we have the best example we could ever imagine of someone who was not prideful: Jesus. Though he was God, he "did not regard equality with God something to be grasped" (Philippians 2:6). Instead, he "emptied himself" in order to love and serve us (2:7). We can do the same. We can try to love and serve other people the way Jesus loved and served us—through laying down our lives for one another. That takes the focus off ourselves and onto the person in front of us. This kind of self-forgetfulness and self-giving is the first step in growing in humility. Another step is to realize that all that we are and have are gifts from our gracious Lord. Though we may have worked hard, it was only through God's goodness and grace that we were able to accomplish what we have. Pride is a tendency we will always have to guard against. But thanks be to God for Jesus, who shows us the way to humility! "Jesus, help me become more like you." (Psalm) Deuteronomy 32:26-28, 30, 35-36
Matthew 19:23-30 |  clickable | For at present we all tend to one mistake; we tend to make politics too important. We tend to forget how huge a part of a man's life is the same under a Sultan and a Senate, under Nero or St. Louis. Daybreak is a never-ending glory, getting out of bed is a never-ending nuisance; food and friends will be welcomed; work and strangers must be accepted and endured; birds will go bedwards and children won't, to the end of the last evening.
— G.K. Chesterton
from In Defense of Sanity | my2cents:
"You have put gold and silver into your treasuries."
Question:
"What have you put in your treasure box?"
What is in your safe at home?
I have a fireproof safe in my house. I can tell you what is in there. I have a title of a car I sold to a person that said they really needed a car, and they never paid me in full. It is a memory of my gift to them. I have some old papers, and among them...letters. Letters from my parents and from the Cursillo community. They were letters of encouragement. That is perhaps the most valuable things I'd like to preserve. My pictures of family are in the cloud. But these physical papers remain. The signs and gestures of encouragement.
What do you hold near and dear in your heart?
These things are of everlasting impact. | We pray: ""'Our own hand won the victory;
the LORD had nothing to do with it.'" For they are a people devoid of reason, having no understanding. It is I who deal death and give life."
Devoid of reason we become, when humility becomes void.
The reasoning of Christ is unfathomable...because He is based on mercy. Yet, He is Righteousness. Everything said will come to be, when it comes to life and death. | Our Lord said: ""Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven."
Again, what is in your treasure box? What do you treasure the most? Who do you treasure the most?
"...it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God."
Rich? Right? For the longest time the U.S. has been one, if not the richest of all countries, a country mostly under God. God's favor? Not necessarily. It is a byproduct sometimes of the faithful. But that is not the means, that is not what we should shoot for.
Rich? We should strive to be rich in graces.
The Holy Sacraments provide grace, and the rosary, and many prayers and fasting.
Was Jesus rich? In grace, from the mother of grace and the God of all grace, rich in the right, yes.
So how can we become rich? Become poor. They are susceptible to God's grace. That is why the beatitudes say "blessed are the poor".
Can a rich king be poor? Yes. Can a poor person be rich? Yes.
What God speaks of is the heart, the soul, and our life for Him.
I've seen poor people that don't need God.
I've seen rich people that don't need God.
And now we can begin to talk about pride.
Those who will not accept.
Those who cannot be told what to do.
Those who cannot forgive.
Those who are full....of themselves.
Just think...how hard is it to forgive someone who has severely hurt you? Your pride? | Our Lord said: ""Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven."
Again, what is in your treasure box? What do you treasure the most? Who do you treasure the most?
"...it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God."
Rich? Right? For the longest time the U.S. has been one, if not the richest of all countries, a country mostly under God. God's favor? Not necessarily. It is a byproduct sometimes of the faithful. But that is not the means, that is not what we should shoot for.
Rich? We should strive to be rich in graces.
The Holy Sacraments provide grace, and the rosary, and many prayers and fasting.
Was Jesus rich? In grace, from the mother of grace and the God of all grace, rich in the right, yes.
So how can we become rich? Become poor. They are susceptible to God's grace. That is why the beatitudes say "blessed are the poor".
Can a rich king be poor? Yes. Can a poor person be rich? Yes.
What God speaks of is the heart, the soul, and our life for Him.
I've seen poor people that don't need God.
I've seen rich people that don't need God.
And now we can begin to talk about pride.
Those who will not accept.
Those who cannot be told what to do.
Those who cannot forgive.
Those who are full....of themselves.
Just think...how hard is it to forgive someone who has severely hurt you? Your pride? And so we are called to deflate ourselves, our egos. Deflate yourself in the Confessional. Deflate that big head that says you are the center of the world. We are not. We revolve around the sun.
The Son is the Light of the world.
Let us deflate and let grace come inside, let the light inside our souls.
Let us live as He desires....as it is in Heaven and on earth....Loving God above all. Lord, help us be poor and open to receive your abundant grace more and more. | Random Bible verse from online generator: Ephesians 4:1–3
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. | If one day you don't receive these, just visit my website Going4th.com, surely you'll find me there. God Bless You! Share the Word. Share this, share what is good | |
